


A Series of Firsts

by ghibli22



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Drabble, First Crush, First Love, First Meetings, Fluff, Introspection, Inui thinks about feelings, Kaidoh plays tennis, M/M, One Shot, Really just an excuse for me to write a confession scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22247935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghibli22/pseuds/ghibli22
Summary: Kaidoh has a way of making Inui think. It takes him a while to stop thinking so hard.
Relationships: Inui Sadaharu/Kaidou Kaoru
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	A Series of Firsts

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking through old files and found this fic that I just wrote, and forgot about I guess. I think at one point I was planning on making it longer, but in the wisdom of old age I'm able to see now that it was already done. Which is why I think I never 'finished' it. I was looking for more that wasn't there lol. Anyway it's been unearthed like an ancient treasure now, so enjoy!

The first time Inui Sadaharu sees Kaidoh Kaoru he doesn't know it. On the first day of school students pass by dozens of other students without thinking about each other or if they matter. It had been raining, and second year Inui sees first year Kaidoh folding his umbrella away. Its a fleeting moment, insignificant even though their lives would soon be woven so tightly together. He doesn't remember the rain or the brief eye contact or what the principal had said to them that day at assembly.

The first time Inui Sadaharu meets Kaidoh Kaoru, the first year has a split lip and is holding a tennis ball in one hand. Inui's arms are wrapped around his torso while Kawamura holds back the other first year, who wears a cocky smile even as he begins to show signs of a black eye. As he holds the boy with the bandana back, he can't help but to notice the muscle under his arms. At the end of the day he puts aside two pages at the back of one of Kikumaru’s notebooks for preliminary data collection.

The first time Inui Sadaharu considers playing doubles again is the day Kaidoh Kaoru breaks through all of his data and he loses his spot as a regular. He doesn't know why this thought comes to him as he stores away his racket, or why it stays with him through the night and into the next day. Kaidoh is nothing like Renji at all, and he hasn't played in doubles for years. But maybe it is because Kaidoh is so different that he thinks about it. Kaidoh, who owns at least twenty-one different bandanas, who was never late, who secretly kept pictures of cats on his phone, and who managed to surpass all of his expectations. A constant that had become a variable. Quite suddenly, he finds himself fascinated with how else Kaidoh Kaoru might go beyond his predictions.That night, as Inui plans training schedules and exercises for his team, he takes an hour to detail step-by-step a plan he only titles "Doubles".

The first time Inui Sadaharu falls in love with Kaidoh Kaoru he is bleeding all over the tennis court. The game is much more violent that he anticipated, and the pain is just growing and growing inside his skull. His glasses are cracked and he is spending more time lying on the ground than standing on it. He knows that Kirihara is trying to provoke Kaidoh, Kaidoh who is protective to a fault and full of more good than most people see in him. Inui hits the ground again and his body tells him to give up. But then he looks up, and everything about Kaidoh is wrong and he is terrified. Inui reaches up to grab Kaidoh's arm.

"No," he says. A plea. A confession.

The first time Inui Sadaharu realizes he is in love with Kaidoh Kaoru he wakes up from a nightmare, in a hospital and covered in bandages. Kaidoh is sitting next to the bed, watching him anxiously even though a few miles away their team is playing the most important match they've ever played. Inui knows how much Kaidoh wants to be there. But Kaidoh is here instead, sitting with him, and even as he talks about other things his mind catches up with his heart and goes _oh_.

The first time Inui Sadaharu asks Kaidoh Kaoru on a date he feels like the biggest idiot in Japan, if not the world or the entirety of their spiral galaxy. In two hours he will graduate, and leave Seishun Gakuen for a high school on the other side of town. But in spite of this he asks Kaidoh to meet him at the clubhouse so he can ask the question that has been plaguing his mind for weeks. He has about ten different note cards with seven different ways he could carefully broach the subject, but somehow he just ends up blurting out, "Kaidoh would you ever consider dating another man?"

Inui counts up to forty three seconds in which Kaidoh stares wordlessly as him, his panic growing as each of them pass. His fear builds as it seems that, in concurrence with the only predictable pattern about Kaidoh Kaoru, he has miscalculated. But then Kaidoh takes a deep breath and looks at him with exasperation, "Senpai, it's the last day of school. You're graduating today."

Not for the first time Inui adjusts his glasses, "Yes, yes I'm aware. But back to my question -"

"Yes," Kaidoh interrupts, his cheeks catching color as he directs his attention to the floor instead. For a moment Inui's voice is caught in his throat.

"Oh... Oh, well in that case, Kaidoh, would you-"

"Yes," he interrupts again, still staring intently at his shoes.

His index cards crumple in his hands, pulse beating in his fingertips, “You didn’t let me finish my question.”

“You’re graduating today,” Kaidoh repeats, taking the cards from Inui, their fingers brushing together. He straightens them and smooths out the creases in a way that is wholly and completely Kaidoh.

Inui feels heat rising under his collar, “I know. I um...” he gestures to the cards, “I had a hard time um... formulating what I should say.”

Kaidoh’s lips turn up just a bit. Inui can see it just beneath his bangs, “You see,” he continues, “I find I have a hard time... figuring out most things when it comes to you.”

Inui can hardly believe those words have just slipped out of his mouth. That wasn’t on any of his cards, or anything he had planned in advance. Both of their faces go red. 

After a few moments of awkward silence, Kaidoh is the one to speak first, “Yes. I said so before, didn’t I?”

A smile breaks across Inui’s face. His pulse beats even more quickly through his hands, “I suppose you did, Kaidoh. Even if I didn’t fully get to finish.”

The note cards get tucked into Kaidoh’s pocket. Slowly Inui reaches forward, putting his arms around Kaidoh’s shoulders. The embrace is a little awkward as neither of them really know what to do, but it does well enough. Inui speaks softly, “Would you go on a date with me, Kaidoh?”

Kaidoh nods against his shoulder, and nervous laughter bubbles through Inui’s throat. He will graduate in two hours, and move to a high school across town. But he expects this won’t be the end to his firsts with Kaidoh Kaoru.


End file.
